Bryan Morris - Aruba’s Premier Wedding Photographer

This is the first of a three part series. I have to many nice images to post them all in one post.

You might think that me being a photographer would have a gazillion of images of my kids. Well I’m sorry to dissapoint you but I don’t have. After all day on the road shooting when I come home I don’t want to break out a camera to shoot my kids. I purposed to shoot them more often and even if that don’t work at least once a year around there birthday. I have gotten this idea from a fellow photographer.

It was Shaydee’s (7) birthday in September, Naeem (6) and Ishaq’s (5) in October. The season slowed down quite a bit and last week I’ve decided to go and take them somewhere and take a couple shots of them.

WOW, I really loved them all. I didn’t even go far from home. It took me 3 minutes away by car to get to the spot, very close to the Alto Vista Chapel. I took them one by one to avoid one distracting the other.The entire shoot took me about 1 hour.

See some of what was captured in that hour. I tend to shy away from studio as Aruba is a beautiful backdrop. So by now you know that the shoot was done outdoors. I must also add that my kids are growing up so quick they are really getting big. I had fun doing the shoot and decided that I’ll be repeating this more often. I love my kids! It’s really funny to get them in their moment and capture them just the way they are. Their expressions really show this. Every picture you see is them in real life.

Blessings,

Bryan Morris

This is a candid shot of all three of them walking back to the car after the shoot.

Shaydee just enjoying nature.

Doing what she loves best!

Isn’t she cute?

Blowing kisses in the wind.

WOW, I even forgot that I did this shoot. I worked these images to put them on the blog and I forgot them in the folder. I was cleaning my PC today and I remembered that I had them there. It was Anneke’s mom’s birthday she celebrated her 74th birthday. All of Ms Ruby’s kids surprised her and flew in for her birthday. Anneke called me and informed me that her brother and sister is on the island and she wants to take a family for her mom. I was much delighted to do that as I’ve gotten the chance to see her brother Ricardo a.k.a. Ricky who I haven’t seen in a while. He says it should be at least 21 years so I was happy to see him and meet his family.

Enjoy this family shoot.

The entire family.

The man, Ricky himself!

Ricky and his daugther, Sammy.

Ricky, his daughter and his nieces.

This is Stacey Ann, a.k.a. Beyonce

This is the entire clan again.

Did you notice the unconventional ways of doing family portraits? The experience just has to be different if I’m behind the lens. I’m not into this roll call line up portraits. They have to be casual and look effortless. Just different, just hot.

Blessings,

Bryan Morris

Candice and Brendan, what an easy going couple. They were up to anything. I don’t know if you’ve noticed that in the title I’ve placed the name Cindy between brackets. For some reason upon replying to Candice’s first email I’ve called her Cindy and every now and then I still slip and do the same. For some strange reason I insist on calling her Cindy. Thank Gosd that she’s so easy going she just laughs hard anytime I do it.

Candice and Brendan know each other for 19 years but it was up till about 3 years ago they realised the sparkle in each other’s eyes. So they started to date. They love to Travel and in the 3 years they’ve been to Aruba 5 times.Brendan ask her to marry him at the lighthouse, so they’ve decided what better place to get married. They had a very nice ceremony and great guests, 60 in total. They can party. They all stayed at the Marriot and had there ceremony and reception at the Rennaissance Island.

Candice and Brendan whenever you’re back just know that you have some new found friends here on the island. You guys are absolutely great. Keep Sweet and remember never to be part of a statistic. Just remember life has it’s ups and downs but it will work if you work it. Giving up is the easiest thing to do.

Blessings,

Bryan Morris

The cutest flower girl ever. She’s a future runway model. She loves the camera.

Brendan’s first sight of Candice as she walks down the isle. Look at that expression!

Candice coming down the isle with her parents.

Listening attentively to the officiant.

A detail shot of the flowers.

The first kiss.

Candice and Brendan walking down the isle as Mr & Mrs O’Connell.

Don’t we have beautiful sunsets here in Aruba

The newlyweds just chillin in a hammock.

Another portrait.

The bestest best man! OH Brother, he can dance.

The first dance…..

Here you have the Puerto Rican version of Celia Cruz. This is Candice’s grandma. Man, she can dance.

Another detail shot…..The rings!

This is the famous lighthouse where they were engaged.

Having fun at the beach!

Dancing on the beach….

This was a very beautiful day. We cancelled to days in a row prior due to the sky being grey and dark.

A spontaneous portrait!

This is the end. Stay tuned for the slideshow.

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Mr. Hägglund and Ms. Stjerneby officially married, as per Aruba’s custom, in Oranjestad’s historical Town Hall with the charming architecture, wooden floors and elegant chandeliers providing a magnificent atmosphere. Following the official and legal ceremony the couple enjoyed their dream beach wedding with a fiery red sun setting behind them on Bucuti’s 14 acres of pristine, powder white beach.

Anna and Stefan flew all the way from Sweden to Aruba to promise each other to remain faithful until death part them. When asked why the came to Aruba their response was: “We wanted to get married in Paradise”

Stefan works as a software developer for Opera Software and Anna is a project manager at a swedish meteorological and hydrological institute. The couple met through mutual friends at the Linkoping University in February 1998 The couple eloped to Aruba and surprised their family back in Sweden with the news of their marriage. “Our families were surprised and very happy to learn about our beautiful wedding” expressed the newly wedded couple. Congratulations and we’re expecting to see you next year for your anniversary.

Blessings,

Bryan Morris

Enjoying each other in the garden.

Are they in love or what?

So easy going so romantic.

Walking down the sand isle.

What a simple and yet beautiful setup. Less is more.

Detail shot of the rings.

The first kiss.

The toast!

A piece of art.

Getting comfy in the garden.

Detail of the flowers.

On September 29, 2007

A perfect Saturday evening on the pristine powder white beaches of Aruba, Melanie Harris and Joel Cooper promised to remain at each others side until death do them part at the Eagle Beach. It was a very casual setting. They were accompanied by their close relatives and loved ones. Rev Gibson was the officiant. They were all smiles the entire evening with each other. See for yourself in the images. Melanie and Joel when the not so nice seasons approach you, just holds hands look in each others eyes and smile just as you’ve smilled on your weding day. Know that those dark seasons are nothing but seasons. We all go through them from time to time. Aruba Weddings were the wedding planners for this evening, who did a great job in setting this up.

Blessings,

Bryan Morris

The father of success is work - The mother of achievement is ambition.

Short and sweet. It could not have been any clearer.

In order for you to achieve success in this life, you have to be ambitious and work. Just a sidenote, the harder you work at it the more successful you’ll be. That’s a whole other quote.

Blessings,

Bryan Morris

I was just using this website a while ago to check sunset in relation to some upcoming wedding times and I’ve decided that this will be very good information to post. Advice from a photographer of quite a few years already with a cuople hundred weddings behind him.

If you have plan on getting maried around sunset, check this site www.timeanddate.com. Here you’ll get the accurate time of sunset. Schedule your ceremony one hour before sunset. This will give you ample time for the ceremony that is ussually at least 20 minutes and then you have about 40 minutes to take pictures in the sunset. Much more can be accomplished if your not in the middle of the ceremony during sunset. Whenever scheduling your beach ceremony keep this in mind.

Blessings,

Bryan Morris

Photography for me started out as a hobby and then it became too expensive so after quite a few years of practicing photography as an expensive hobby with a few paid gigs here and there, On June 1^st, 2003 I’ve registered myself at the chamber of commerce which officially launched me as a small business owner. Since then it’s been work, work, work.  Not much time has been allocated anymore to shooting for fun. 

I’ve been monitoring the sunset for a few days already and yesterday I’ve decided to go out around sunset and shoot a few frames. It was not as nice as I would’ve liked it to be but I’ve worked with it as much as I could’ve and find that I’ve still managed to get some great shots of which I’ll post one that I really like. I really enjoy the sunset and I enjoy shooting it even more.

While out shooting the sunset it just dawned on me how blessed I am.  In this industry that I work I meet people from all over the world and all walks of life and speaking to them I learn that some people are not as privileged as us to be able to see as sunset on a regular basis and we tend to take it for granted that we have the sunset. While going through with my thoughts it made me realize that I’m really blessed to live where people come on vacation, meaning I’m kinda, sorta always on vacation. I’m really grateful for this privilege in life to be able to live on this little rock Aruba, www.aruba.com  I’ll make it a priority to go out and shoot a little more to illustrate to you a little of my island.

The definition of insanity according to Albert Einstein is:  Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  At the end of 2005 I was recapping the year in my mind and have learned this about my business. I’ve done 50+ weddings at a very high average of $200 (Too ashamed to really go and calculate an average as it’s much lower than $200) I’ve made $10.000 in weddings. Woohoo! This way not enough for me to support my family and my business so I know for 2006 to do something different, as I would just have to declare chapter 11 by the end of 2006 for sure. I’ve really stepped up my marketing and worked hard on my business. Which grew quite a bit and thanks to the many photographer’s forums that I’m member of I was inspired and coached to change the structure of my business. I’ve worked side by side some of the international greats right here on the island and decided to step into the water of full day coverage a little.  I’ve done quite a few in 2006 this off setted my expenses a bit as I only use professional equipment. Common sense would dictate to me sometimes why not use consumer equipment but then business sense would step in and say “No, you need reliability”  My goal for 2008 is to launch out doing only full day coverage, offering boutique quality photography and products. Locals might say man but that’s expensive. That’s right. It’s not for everyone. I’m offering products that a certain market is looking for. I’ve worked with numerous photographers here on the island with these packages as I now offer and people pay their travel expenses and also their fees to shoot their wedding. Which end most times in the tens of thousands of dollars. Why this price?

I must do something different in order to support my family. I’m not insane! I use the best equipment on the market. Whenever you’re looking for a wedding photographer, here on the island or anywhere in the world my tip to you is: Ask how many cameras and lenses he has on any particular wedding day. I’ve learnt this early. You need back up. Many photographers are irresponsible and risk shooting weddings with just one camera. Even human that make cameras die, don’t they think that cameras can malfunction. What would happen if this happen and they only have one body. You fill in the blanks. When shopping for wedding photographers don’t seek bargains. I’ve heard too many stories in the 4 years that I’m full time. 

In your own life, if you desire change quit doing the same things over and over.